A convicted drug smuggler who was granted a prison transfer from Hong Kong to the United States in 2011 is now free despite having served just a fraction of his 24-year sentence, angering justice officials and lawmakers.

American Jon Randall Garlock, 56, walked out of jail less than five years into his sentence after US justice officials reviewed his case and slashed his jail time to four-and-a-half years.

It is understood justice officials in Hong Kong expressed grave concerns over the case and the city's prison transfer agreement with the US, which has been in place since 1999.

Garlock was arrested at Chep Lap Kok airport in July 2008 after he and another man, Tang Wai-man, were caught with more than 8kg of pure cocaine hidden in four containers labelled protein powder in their luggage.

At the pair's trial in March 2009, Tang pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years and six months' jail. Garlock pleaded not guilty, but a jury convicted him and he was sent to prison for 24 years by Madam Justice Clare-Marie Beeson.

He was sent to the maximum-security Shek Pik prison on Lantau Island and did not appeal against his sentence.

In December 2011, he was granted a prison transfer and sent to a New York prison. In November, after serving just 11 months in the US, he was released.

When the Sunday Morning Post tracked him down at his parents' home in South Carolina yesterday, he was adamant that the Hong Kong legal system had wronged him.

"The transfer is what enabled me to receive real justice," he said. "The US side reviewed my crime and if I had travelled into the US with that quantity of drugs, it would probably equate to an 11-to-13-year sentence."

The figure was further slashed due to "harsh conditions" that Garlock claims he had to endure in Hong Kong.

"I'm not real clear how they came to that figure, but the [prison] conditions took it down to eight years or something. Things like no heat or air-conditioning, no cool water, a bed that was too small." The worst thing was the food. "The poor-quality oil the food is cooked in is a real dietary health issue," he said.

The US Department of Justice refused to comment on the case and a US consulate spokesman said prison transfers were carried out in accordance with the 1999 agreement.

Democratic Party lawmaker James To Kun-sun labelled the case "totally unacceptable".

"It's almost a back door to free a prisoner. If this case can have that result, the question to be asked is whether similar cases to the US will have the same result," he said. "Either we have to review the prison transfer agreement so that there are restrictions on the reduction of a sentence or we cancel the agreement."

Garlock first came to Hong Kong in December 2006 to start a mobile phone exporting business, splitting his time between his apartment in Prince Edward and Shenzhen.

On July 6, 2008, Garlock and Tang - a man he had met two days earlier - flew to Vancouver to pick up suitcases belonging to a wealthy man in Hong Kong, according to court documents.

Garlock said his air fare was paid for by someone else, but this was not unusual.

"The only catch was I had to bring back someone else's belongings. They said it would be easy and I wasn't suspicious at all.

"I took the bags as my own, but because, according to the airline, I was responsible for the luggage I searched them."

Each suitcase had clothes, cereal bars and a plastic container marked "Lean Mass Gainer", a reference to protein powder. "They were sealed so I chose not to remove the seal," Garlock said.

When the pair landed in Hong Kong on July 12, narcotics bureau officers arrested them, searched their bags and found yellowish powder in each of the containers.

"Having never done any drugs, I didn't know what they looked like, but I would have thought cocaine was white. I thought perhaps it was HGH, growth hormones."

After his release Garlock moved in with his parents and hopes to become a car dealer.

His wife of 20 years divorced him when he was in jail and re-married, taking the couple's four children with her.

"I'm trying to back on my feet but it lingers, even for someone with lots of get-up-and-go," he said. "I would never go back to Hong Kong, not even if you gave me a million dollars."

A Security Bureau spokeswoman said the policy allowed criminals to "serve their sentences in a familiar environment free of language barriers and where their friends and relatives can visit them on a regular basis".

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Drug smuggler walks free after US slashes jail term

What do you expect from the USA? Respect for HK, its laws and regulation? A big bully does not respect others - remember this.

captam Aug 25th 20139:53am

Just another rotten aspect of the "freedom and democracy" which idiotic HongKongers aspire for.The rich in America routinely buy themselves free even when convicted of the most heinous of crimes. They call it "rule of law"................ Yes one for the rich and one for the poor.Hong Kong should now tear up the prisoner exchange agreement with USA.

Fangkai.sg Aug 25th 201312:05pm

This is how America government handle the things. Disappointed.

HK-Lover Aug 25th 20138:12am

The US legal system - what legal system ? Do we talk about the system where the police can shot you in the back, were justices are elected into their position and consequently are not independent, were everyone can buy and carry weapons without any qualification for it ?
Hong Kong better cancels the transfer agreement. Otherwise it could also sign transfer agreements with Somalia and similar countries.

Camel Aug 25th 20138:04pm

Jon Garlock's is now laughing his **** of getting so easy away.Just carrying some bags for totally strangers? Well, that you can tell your grandma as this is a well known method for drug traf****. Expecially the American customs at the mexican borders or airports with flights from Southamerica to the US know this too well. Hiring couriers to get the drugs travelling and the don't get your fingers dirty.
He was an unsuccessful businessman, trying to get rich but all didn't work out so to choose drug traf****. Now, saying he didn't know that there were drugs in the bag.
That is the standard excuse when they get caught.His wife knows him better as she left him.

daniel18 Aug 25th 20134:58pm

If he were in China, he would has been shot dead. He accusation is nothing but stupidity. The bullying bossy US are the king of the world. They are the law of world. They can kill civilians but said it is legal. They can sell and take drugs and said it is legal. People said China is terrible, then I said the US is in bloody hxll.

Gotta agree with honkiepanky. Shuike you are totally ignorant of how ineffective the war on drugs is.

On the other hand, Jon Garlock was quite naive to bring a stranger's luggage. There's a reason all airports tell you to NEVER do that.

Brit_in_China Aug 25th 20133:50pm

Good job he wasn't black or hispanic, he would have had his sentence increased.

scmp04 Aug 25th 201310:33am

What nonsense! A drug smuggler nonetheless ! Crazy that he is released so early.Naturally HK lawmakers are upset!

HiggsSinglet Aug 25th 20139:16am

Those who freed him better not come to HK. They should be locked up since us never respects others system and value

hodgescmp Aug 25th 20138:54am

Unbelievable - this is a disgrace. He should be sent back to HK to finish his term. And to then complain about the 'harsh conditions' - you are a DRUG SMUGGLER! You bring misery to others - you have no right to complain - and you dont want to come back to HK - GOOD. WE DONT WANT YOU unless we can throw you back in jail for the remaining 20 years of your sentence.!

honkiepanky Aug 25th 20139:15pm

@ Camel
Be honest. Is your story about "drug dealers were waiting outside, trying to offer your children drugs" something you have actually witnessed first hand? Or is that just a scare story told by your teachers or parents?
Let me put it another way. Have you seen tobacco dealers waiting outside you children's school waiting to sell them cigarettes? How about alcohol dealers? No? Why not? Perhaps because we have a legal, yet effectively regulated, market in those substances.
I don't believe "hard" drugs should be available to everyone without limit, nor do I claim to know where the line should be drawn. What I do believe is that the policy of strict prohibition is an abject failure that benefits only organized crime and budget-hungry law enforcement agencies.

@honkiepanky
What a nonsense. I am just wondering how old you are and where this b.s. is coming from. Have you ever been to a school were drugdealers were waiting outside, trying to offer your children drugs and persuade them to take the pills because it is cool to take them? In pups, clubs and discos? Putting pills into your drinks to get you the first time high? Don't be so naiv.
So much for your "Drugs don't walk around harming random people". No the drugs not. The drugdealers do and the drugs destroy whole families.

rease.92 Aug 25th 20133:10pm

Do we still remember the CIA's drug smuggling operation out of Vietnam? And the protection of the Afghanistan poppy fields by American soldiers? America is a large consumer of drugs and the DEA is making sure they keep the monopoly in drug traf**** and profiteering. They need the drug income to finance the black (illegal) operations for the CIA worldwide. They need the American drug consumers. And they also need the American drug prisoners to work in private prisons to generate slave labour profits.

You should be glad those drugs he carried did not harm your family or your friends or your loved ones or your fellow citizens in HK. And if he got away with it would've made a lot of money. Freeing him would encourage Kingpins to use old/feeble & disabled persons as mules?

jayb Aug 25th 201310:32am

sadly a case like this, especially the guy is white would not even get charged in US. US is extremely lax when it comes to narcos. Obama is about to set many drug dealers off jail as the Fed is running out of $$$. it is a mess...

Sure, he's an idiot and a ****. But does he deserve to spend 24 years in prison?

honkiepanky Aug 25th 20133:55pm

Please. Drugs don't walk around harming random people -- drug users make a choice to use.
It's been clear for decades to anyone paying attention that strict drug prohibition fails any reasonable cost-benefit calculus.
The USA is exhibit A of this failure. Tens of billions of dollars a year are spent on the war on drugs. More than half its super-sized prison population is there due to drug-related offenses -- millions of (disproportionately black) lives destroyed. And what do they have to show for all this expense and cruelty? Less drug availability? Nope -- drugs are cheaper and more pure than they were decades ago. Meanwhile drug profits (which exist only because of prohibition) fuel violent organized crime from America to Mexico to Brazil.
Meanwhile, ignorant fear of the drug bogeyman leads an otherwise decent place like Hong Kong to impose an effective life sentence on an old man for trying to make a few bucks transporting a white powder to people who will find a way to buy it anyway. Disgraceful.

Whoa! you're way smarter than most governments on earth including the kingpin superpower the US. If only they listened to your analysis, can you imagine how much they could've saved by releasing all incarcerated drug related people, dismantling all super-duper prisons & legalising those pretty "white powder". No more drug related problems. You're a genius.

The fact that you think this is my original opinion shows just how ignorant you are of the issues.

jimmybabe Aug 25th 201310:57am

Hong Kong's welfare is nothing in the eyes of the US. It doesn't matter to them one of their own packed hard drugs to poison the young people of HK. A US passport plus the fact that he is white do the job. What can HK do? It can't do anything, it is not even a sovereign country. I suggest we don't scrap the transfer agreement, just in future release early all HK prisoners who have committed crimes in the US and have been transferred back to HK.

Where do you live? Defin. not in hk. Cigarretes? Seven 11. Alcohol? Supermarket or seven 11. If the regulation of cigarrettes are so effective why do we need a smoking ban in bars and restaurants?
What is your point? Where is your logic?
Yes, making hard drugs legal will take the income off the criminal organizations but you will have more victims to drugs.

Hard Drugs destroys lifes and families.
He some countries drug traf**** will be punished by death.

honkiepanky Aug 25th 201311:12am

The U.S. is, as a rule, excessively harsh on drug offenders, which is why it has the highest incarceration rate on the planet. So I am surprised to see a U.S. court showing more common sense than an HK court.
It sounds like the U.S. court naively bought into exaggerated tales of harsh prison conditions in HK. Other than that, it seems to me like justice has been done here.
We are talking about an old man engaged in a victimless crime who has already done 4 1/2 years in prison. There is no suggestion that he had a prior record or is otherwise a threat to the public. How is society served by keeping him locked up for another 20 years?